


A New Beginning

by LysCat



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Conversations, F/M, Kissing, Picnic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-08
Updated: 2020-09-08
Packaged: 2021-03-06 15:13:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26360959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LysCat/pseuds/LysCat
Summary: This is set during the series finale, but before the year long time jump, picks up after Kora saves Daisy's life and the group returns to Earth to reunite with the rest of the team
Relationships: Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa
Comments: 4
Kudos: 114





	A New Beginning

Disclaimer: I don't own any characters familiar to Marvel.

"Thank you for saving me," Daisy Johnson said, looking across the area and focusing on Kora. "I can't imagine that this has been easy on you." While Melinda May and the director remained at the helm of the ship, Coulson sat next to her, not even pretending that he couldn't hear the conversation.

"No, it really hasn't," Kora admitted after a moment. "I should have gone with you when I confronted you on Sybil's ship. I'm sorry," she apologized sincerely.

"There's no point in worrying about the 'shoulda, woulda, coulda's'" Coulson said, not unkindly.

"You don't need to apologize for that," Daisy said, speaking up after the former Director. "You ended up helping us in the end, and that's what matters."

"But I did…horrible things," the new acquaintance confessed. Not only that, but she'd sort of enjoyed it. What kind of person did that make her?

Daisy nodded. "You did," she agreed, even if she didn't know everything Kora had done while working with Malick. "And unfortunately, you're going to have to live with it for the rest of your life," she added, her eyes falling away from the other woman's form.

"You speak from experience…" Kora breathed. Of course, she knew that from Sybil's time stream, but she didn't know the particulars. She was curious about hearing it from Daisy's point of view.

Once again, Daisy nodded. "I do," she admitted quietly, thinking on her time under Hive's sway. "There was an Inhuman that used his power on me and I turned on my team."

Kora pursed her lips. It wasn't the same then. Daisy may have been under the effects of a power, but she hadn't been. She'd allowed herself to be molded. She'd been so blinded by Nathaniel, that she never saw his true motive. She really thought that they were doing what they could to make the world a better place. So much resentment had built within her since going through terrigenesis, and he'd wielded her like a weapon. And she'd been naïve enough to let him.

As if sensing an on-coming argument, Daisy shrugged. "So, maybe not exactly the same," she allowed, "but we were both manipulated." If Kora were bad, she would never have let Simmons and Deke go, she never would have given Daisy the opportunity to join the others. She could hardly blame Kora for her choice in men, not after Ward. She couldn't blame Kora for the manipulation, not after Hive…

"I'd like to hear about it, if you should feel inclined to tell me," Kora told her sister, hoping that their shared experiences could help them bond.

Coulson cast a side glance at Daisy, attempting to deduce her reaction. Her time under Hive's sway was never something she really talked about, even after years, she she'd never really opened up. At least, she hadn't opened up to him. He knew that she'd been haunted by that time and probably would be for the rest of her life.

"Maybe another time," Daisy said that, noticing her sister deflate slightly. She knew that Kora had been searching for a common ground between them, but she just couldn't go there. "Sorry, it's just…an incredibly painful and intimate experience that I don't like talking about."

"No, I understand," Kora said trying to muster a smile, but failing miserably.

"It's going to take time," Daisy told her quietly, hoping that Kora could understand where she was coming from. "I come from a world where no one intercepted you that day," she said delicately, reminding her about her intended suicide. "In all the time that I spent at Afterlife, Jiaying never mentioned you." No one had. Then again, by the time she'd gone there, it was mostly a transitional place. "And while I get that we share the same blood through our mother, you're still a stranger to me. And if I'm being honest, it's a little unnerving for me that you already know me through things that Sybil showed you," she confessed. They weren't on an equal ground, and that made things even more off-putting.

"I think I know what you mean," Kora offered then, even understanding Daisy's final point. It was naïve to expect otherwise at this junction in their relationship. "I just want you to know that what I said to you at your base, about always wanting a sibling, I wasn't just saying it. I actually did mean it."

"I'll keep that in mind," Daisy told her.

Kora nodded once in acknowledgement before she looked at Coulson. "What will happen when we get back to the Lighthouse?"

"First things first, we have a healing chamber that is designed to heal a plethora of things and we'll probably put you in there to make sure you heal properly."

"Oh, that's not necessary," she tried to deny, unable to understand why they were willing to help her after what she'd done.

"I needed it after Malick stole my power," Daisy admitted then, in case Kora was trying to put on a brave face in front of them. "And while I don't know much about the new system he had in place at Afterlife-"

"Prior to you," Coulson said, not pulling his gaze from Kora, "no other Inhumans survived long after being hooked up to the machine," he shared. "It may not have been as invasive as what was done to Daisy, but it was still invasive. And then if you consider your use of your power after…"

"We just want to make sure that you're okay," Daisy finished for him

Kora was speechless as she watched the pair continue to talk, and the smooth rhythm between them. It was obviously the result of years of friendship. She was equally envious and amazed. "And what will you do?" Kora asked, looking to her sister once again.

"Me? I have to fill out a report about everything that happened, shower and eat…not any particular order." There was also Sousa to consider.

"You may also want to stop by and see Simmons," Coulson told his protégé. "Who knows what you were exposed to during that explosion."

Daisy nodded. "I'll see her first thing in the morning. I'd rather Kora get taken care of first." Maybe it would give her a chance to talk to Daniel before possibly being chamber bound again?

* * *

"Daisy, I'd like you to stay behind for a moment," Mack called from the co-captain's chair as May landed.

"Oh…kay," she said, assuming that she would have been the one to escort Kora to Simmons and officially introduce them. She tried to smile at her sister, but it fell flat.

"Don't worry, May and I will help her there," Coulson leaned over and told her quietly.

Daisy nodded and watched as May joined the two. "I may not see you until tomorrow," she said to the young woman as May and Coulson escorted her off the jet. She unbuckled her lap belt but didn't bother to stand just yet and turned her attention to the Director. He was looking at his phone.

"How are you feeling?" He asked her.

Daisy took a moment to consider the question. "Oddly…fine." At least physically.

He hadn't been expecting thar, so he looked at her momentarily. Usually, she was drained after such a confrontation. "What does that mean?"

She shook her head. "I don't…feel tired or drained, like I usually do after I've expelled so much energy."

"Maybe a side effect of Kora's power?" He inquired then.

"Maybe," she allowed before changing the subject. "Everything okay?" She asked.

He nodded, though he was still distracted by the device in his hands. "Yes, I've been called to D.C. to explain…all of this."

"When?"

"Tomorrow."

Daisy smiled sadly. "It's starting, isn't it?" She asked. "What Enoch predicted…"

Putting his phone away, he met her gaze. "I guess it is," he admitted. He was tempted to bring Yo-Yo with him so that they could steal some time alone together before picking back up where he left off. And unfortunately, they wouldn't return until after Fitzsimmons' departure. "Just because we won't all be together in the same room again doesn't mean that you don't have us to count on," he reminded her. "And for all we know, he was talking about the group with Deke being a part of it."

She nodded slowly, not believing him, but not having the energy to fight him. "What are you going to do about Kora?"

"That will depend on her," he replied. "She really came through for us in the end, and lord knows she needs people in her life that won't use her. She expressed an interest in joining SHIELD, of course, we know now that her main reason for being captured was to let Sybil into the computer systems. So, in retrospect, I don't know if she was serious about it."

"But like you mentioned before," Daisy broke in. "She agreed to help you guys when you rescued her."

He nodded. "She did," he admitted easily. "Either way, she needs to be put on the index."

Daisy nodded. She'd assumed as much.

"Things may be changing among the group, but you have a sister that has no intention of leaving you if she can help it," he told her, easily able to see that. Kora hadn't once spoken up about leaving. And sure, the fact that they were the only people she knew in the current year was part of it, he knew she'd been waiting to see what Daisy was going to do.

"I have a sister that has no one else and nowhere else to go," she denied easily.

He offered her a flat look in response. "That's not it, and you know it," he argued. "I know it's scary to open up to new people and that you've been disappointed in the past. That your parents disappointed you. Let her make up for that." She appeared to be mulling over his words. "Now, I'm not saying that you should share all of your deepest and darkest secrets, but it wouldn't hurt to extend an olive branch."

"No, I suppose it wouldn't," she admitted quietly before looking at him, only to see that he appeared to be lost in his thoughts. "What?" She asked, interrupting his silent musing.

He shook his head. "Nothing, I was just thinking that we're all going to have to make some decisions in the coming weeks." After everything they'd gone through the last however long, they all needed a little reflection time to figure out if they wanted to remain in their current situations, maybe change things up…or step away completely like Fitzsimmons had chosen to do. "This includes you too. As you know, Fitz and Simmons are stepping away and now Coulson's expressed in interest in traveling. Where do you see yourself in six months or a year?" He paused as she mulled over his question. "As far as Kora goes, if she wants to stay around, I can make that happen. And if she decides she wants a life away from SHIELD, we can help with that too."

"I'll let her know she has options."

"Good." He extended his hand towards her. "You ready?"

Fighting back a wave of tears that threatened to spill over, knowing that that was it. She placed her hand in his, letting him pull her from her sitting position. She attempted to smile at him, but knew it fell flat.

Observing the emotions behind her eyes, he held her hand in his and squeezed it in what he hoped was comfort. "Change doesn't always have to be a bad thing," he chided her in a gentle tone, looking beyond her for a moment. With the ramp still open, he easily able to see an anxious pair of agents. "After all," he started again, placing his hands on her shoulders as he turned her around. "When was the last time you had someone waiting for you after you returned from a mission?" He asked.

Daisy's attention fell on Yo-Yo and Daniel, the former was already making her way towards them, but it was the latter she was focused on. She watched his eyes sweep over her form as if cataloging any cuts or bruises she had sustained during her final confrontation with Malick. She stopped a few feet away from him, unsure of how to proceed. Should she throw herself in his arms? Should she just casually greet him?

"Hey, you," he greeted, opening his arms for her.

Needing no further prompting, Daisy threw her arms around his neck and pressed herself tightly against his body.

Enclosing one arm around her back, he held her against him. "Couldn't wait to press yourself against me or what?" He asked, hoping to both break the ice and lighten the mood between them.

Turning her head, she pressed her face into the crook of his neck, finding solace in his embrace. Her eyes fell closed and she felt no need to disentangle herself from him, at least not yet.

"I was worried about you today," he confessed in a soft voice.

"You're always worried," she replied, lifting her head, and meeting his gaze.

His offered her a guilty smile in response. "Yeah, but today I was especially worried." While the four of them had barricaded themselves in the Lighthouse, out manned and out gunned, for a moment there, he wasn't sure that they were going to make it out alive.

She pulled away from him slightly. "I have a few things to take care of," she began, "but I would love to spend some time with you after."

His lips fell into a smile and found himself nodding. "Meet back here in an hour?" He asked.

She considered the time frame he offered. She wasn't sure how long it would take to fill out a report about the day's events. And before she rejoined him, she wanted to shower and freshen up. "Make it an hour and a half?" Daisy countered.

"Sounds like a plan."

* * *

Hearing a knock on her door, Daisy frowned. It hadn't been an hour and a half yet…had it? It certainly hadn't felt like it. Had she really spent that much time on paperwork? "Couldn't wait to see me, huh?" Daisy inquired loudly through the door as she made a move to open it. "Jemma," she greeted, her smile dimming slightly.

"Sorry to have disappointed you," Jemma said in a pointed manner, reading the expression on her friend's face.

Daisy shook her head in negative. "I'm supposed to be meeting Sousa soon. I thought you might have been him coming to look for me." Even as she said the words, she felt her cheeks burning with embarrassment.

Jemma smiled for her friend, genuinely happy for her. She'd been there back when Skye was crushing on Ward, pre-Hydra, of course. She'd been there for parts of Daisy's relationship with Lincoln. And while the latter had been a wonderful example of what a relationship could be like, her friend had still remained cautious for the most part. "So, things are good then?" Jemma asked.

Daisy shrugged, attempting to bite back a smile. "We haven't really had a chance to talk about it just yet, but I think so. Before I left him and Mack to track you and Deke down, he kissed me…and then I kissed him back."

Jemma's smile brightened, unable to recall the last time she'd seen her friend so goofy over a guy. "I'm happy to hear that."

Daisy exhaled a dramatic sigh, almost mocking herself. "It's weird how short of a time it took for me to open up to him," she said then.

Jemma's smile dimmed slightly. "Not really. You guys were thrown together when Malick kidnapped you in 1976." Intense situations had a way of tearing down walls, so she hadn't been surprised when the pair began gravitating towards one another.

The Inhuman nodded slowly, forcing herself not to focus on the event. "And he was always there for me during the time loop," she added before frowning. "You don't think that I'm being too cavalier with my feelings, do you?" The time loop may have only felt a few hours to the rest of the team, but for her and Coulson, it had been weeks.

The other woman shook her head in negative. "Sometimes it just takes the right person to come along and change things," she reminded her friend. "Do you remember when we were in Kitson and-"

"Tripping balls?" Daisy interrupted dryly offering the other woman a wry grin. "I remember that I needed you to help me aim my hand at those men so that I can use my powers against them."

"You also told me that you wanted your own Fitz," she recalled, looking closely at Daisy, trying to judge if her friend remembered the conversation. "You may feel like you're being cavalier, but he's just as transparent. I mean, you're the reason he ended up staying with us."

She'd assumed as much, though she hadn't been brave enough to question Daniel about it. "So, what's up, Jemma?" Daisy asked, hoping to change the subject. "I know you didn't come here just to talk about that."

"You're right."

Daisy watched as Jemma pulled a scanner out of her back pocket.

"Coulson said that you wanted to make sure that Kora was taken care of, but he was worried you may have been exposed to radiation."

The dark-haired woman nodded once. "I guess it's possible," she allowed, trying to think back on the moment. "But the force of my power pushed everything away."

"It would make me feel better if I could just scan you now."

"Yeah," Daisy grudgingly agreed as she claimed a seat on the edge of her bed. "And where is your little monkey?" Daisy asked as Jemma began running the device down her body.

"Yo-Yo and May have commandeered her attention and aren't ready to relinquish her just," Jemma excused.

"I would have loved to meet her," Daisy told her friend pointedly.

"And you will," Jemma replied, still focused on her work. However, a quick glance at her friend's face told her more than Daisy had said. "We still have time, Daisy," she told her softly. "I'm not going anywhere just yet."

"Am I that transparent?" Then again, she supposed she was. She didn't have her own family like the others did. And in retrospect, she believed that it meant that she held onto them just a little tighter because they had become her family.

"No, I just know you so well," Jemma said, finishing her scan. "And…we have nothing to worry about according to this," she added, sharing the results. "I'll be out of your way shortly and you can finish getting ready to see Agent Sousa," she excused making her way towards the door.

"And Kora?" Daisy asked, following her to the door. "She'll be okay?"

"She'll be fine," she told the other woman in a reassuring tone. "A night in the chamber will do her wonders."

"What?" Daisy asked, studying her friend's face. Jemma wanted to say something, but she was holding back.

"Agent Sousa is a good man. He'd kind and solid."

"I know he is," Daisy said, almost uncomfortably.

"You could do worse."

"And I have," the Inhuman nodded.

"That you have," Jemma agreed. "You two were born seventy years apart, in two different realities, but you've gravitated towards each other. I really think that he could be your Fitz. You just have to let him."

* * *

"Hey," Daisy said, approaching Daniel from behind. "I hope I'm not too late. Jemma stopped by and wanted to scan me for any…anything," she finished lamely.

He swung toward the direction of her voice. "Not at all," he denied easily. "You look refreshed."

She smiled and thanked him for the compliment. "It must be something to do with Kora's power," she admitted. "I'm usually exhausted after these confrontations."

"So, in the past...what would you have normally done?"

"Uh…eaten a ton of food to help build back energy and then sleep for ten to twelve hours," she shrugged.

"Are you hungry now?"

"I could eat," she said admitted, but didn't feel as ravenous as usual.

"Good," he nodded as he stepped away from her.

She watched as he picked up a…was that a picnic basket? "You packed a picnic basket?" She asked.

"I did," he replied, also reaching for the lanterns he'd found. "I thought we could go top side for an hour or so, eat outside. I know it's dark out, but I managed to find a couple lanterns so I figured it wouldn't be an issue." Had he messed up in assuming such a thing? He watched her closely for a reaction.

Daisy smiled at him. "Sounds great," she assured him. "What would you have done if I said I wasn't hungry?"

He shrugged. "Left the basket there and come up with a new plan," he finished with a smirk on his lips. They made their way to the elevator shaft in companionable silence.

"Huh…" Daisy said, noticing a small table near their exit route. "That wasn't there before." It was only then that she noticed the items piled on top of it.

He nodded. "Mack and Yo-Yo put this here for us to grab blankets on our way out after I told them my idea about the picnic," Daniel answered. "Do you mind grabbing them?"

"You really thought of everything, didn't you?"

"I wanted to do something for you and…going out to a restaurant didn't really seem like a logical choice at this point." Not only was he in a completely new world and time, he had no way to pay for anything and it would be a cold day in hell before he let his date pay for anything.

"You know, I can't remember the last time I had a picnic," she told him, following him into the elevator. "Maybe once or twice when the weather was nice, and the nuns wanted to get us out of the orphanage."

"Ever in this capacity?" He asked.

"You mean like with a guy that I just so happen to have more than friendly intentions toward?" She responded with a question of her own. "No." He didn't respond verbally, but she didn't miss the way that he had to force back a smile. He was happy about that? "Really?"

He did his best to settle a neutral expression his face. "Hey, I'm six decades behind on almost everything, I have to use what advantages I can," he excused as the elevator stopped to let them out. He held the door open for her to step out before him and then quickly followed her. "I hope you know the layout better than I do, which spots would be more level…"

"I can't say that I've spent a lot of time out here," she replied, claiming a random spot for them to sit. Dropping two of the blankets, she unfolded the last one and laid it out before them. She watched as Daniel set the basket down as close to the middle as he could find in the moonlight before lighting both lanterns.

He sat down and gestured for her to join him before he began unloading it. "I would like to state for future reference," Daniel began, "when I have advanced notice, I can pack a mean picnic." He removed a larger, covered bowl, setting it to the side. "Your plate, Quake."

She reached for the dish, narrowing her eyes as she did so. "Going there again, huh?" She asked.

He set his own plate down in front of him, shrugging one shoulder as he handed her cutlery and a folded paper towel. "Figured, why not?" He asked casually as he handed her a bottle of water.

She accepted the item even as she shook her head in dismissal, smiling all the while. She watched as he pulled a thermos out, followed by two mismatched coffee mugs. "You brought coffee?"

"Juice," he corrected quickly, "figured you might want a choice."

"I'd love some," she said, raising her mug for him. Her attention remained on him as he poured her a drink as well as one for himself before reaching for one more thing in the basket. She watched as he pulled out a serving spoon before he removed the lid from the bowl. "Macaroni and cheese?"

"Life of a bachelor and all, I've eaten more than few boxes of this in my life, figured it was a safe bet," he told her as he served her a spoonful. He watched as her smile dimmed slightly. "What?"

"Nothing, I was just musing that it had been around for so long." Her eyes fell away from his momentarily. "Now that we're back in the real world, this is going to happen from here on out."

"Probably," he allowed, feeling uneasy by her line of questioning.

"Do you think that you could end up regretting your decision to come with us?"

"I can't imagine feeling that way," he corrected himself then, "ever again," he tacked on, remembering how resentful he'd initially felt when he learned about his 'death.' Shamefully, it wasn't until Deke fought back at him that he realized they'd all been pulled out of their lives to deal with the Chronicoms. "What brought this question up?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. I guess when we were on Zephyr 1, and actually traveling through time, we were both out of place, so it felt like we were on more equal footing."

"I'm not going to say that there won't be a period of adjustment," he began, because there probably would be. "But I made peace with my decision in '76."

She was instantly reminded of Jemma's assumption. Throwing caution to the wind, she decided to put the question out there. "And if I were to ask you about your reason for staying with us?"

"I thought the reason why would be obvious by now," he responded, giving her a heated look.

Her stomach twisted in response to the look he'd given her, and she smiled. "Just making sure," she excused lamely as she settled down and began eating her mac and cheese.

* * *

After they both ate their fill, Daniel packed everything back up, but neither made a move to return to the Lighthouse. The temperature around them began to cool, but again, neither was in a hurry to end the night early. Daniel wrapped one blanket around her before grabbing the other and doing the same.

"I died today…or, almost died," Daisy confessed, she was still a little hazy when it came to the memory of it. Her words broke the companionable silence that had settled between them after their meal. "And for the first time in a long time, that idea scares me."

His attention fell on his companion, but he remained quiet, knowing that she was still putting her words together. It was the first time that she'd ventured into saying anything about her day, and he didn't want to interrupt her. Their plan had been a risky one from the get-go and he'd been against it from the start, despite it being their best option for getting rid of both adversaries.

"Don't get me wrong, if there'd been any other way to stop Malick, I would have taken it," she explained for him then, finally meeting his gaze. "After Lincoln died, Jemma told me I had a death wish. I mean, not in those exact words, but the meaning was the same."

Lincoln? The name was unfamiliar to him. Was he the reason for Mack's caution that she'd been hurt? "And did you?" He prodded gently when she fell quiet.

She exhaled a weary sigh. "At the time, I didn't think so. But when I think back on it, I suppose I was more reckless," she admitted softly. "And eventually, I stopped looking for death, but I…I wouldn't have cared if it found me." That's what the last few years had felt like. "And…today, I went into that situation feeling that way, but…" She trailed off, momentarily wondering how pathetic she sounded. "It was only after Kora saved me that I realized that I don't want to be so careless anymore."

He studied her form. "Then we should work on that," he said with an air of finality.

"We?" She asked, placing all of her hope on the word.

He snorted. "I thought we previously covered this. I'm not going anywhere. I certainly didn't follow you through time and across realities only to separate from you now," he told her firmly. "And I get that you're cautious about my words and even skeptical-"

"I don't doubt you," she denied, but stopped when she received an imploring look from him. "Not _you_ exactly…" Daisy amended. "But I've been disappointed in the past and it's hard for me to let people in."

"You seem to be doing an okay job to me," Daniel told her gently.

"I guess," she allowed then. "I wasn't anticipating you, on a romantic level," Daisy continued. "And chances are, that if we'd never gone through the time storm, I probably would never have opened up to you." For her, the entire experience had seemed to lag on for days. "For you, for everyone but Coulson and me, it was…a few hellish hours one day. But I woke up in it like a hundred times, even if I don't remember all of them," she added, trying to offer him some perspective before she continued on.

"What happened?" He asked quickly before charging on. "I mean I get the time storm, but did something else happen?"

"You happened," she told him then. "You know, I figured that Peggy Carter's former partner had to be something special, because there's no way she would have put up with him if he hadn't been able to hold his own. And the way she referred to you after…" After he died. "I figured she wasn't just offering insincere platitudes for the history books."

Her words piqued his interest. What had Peggy said about him after his death? Their friendship had tapered off after their relationship ended. His pride had taken a hit when she ended things between them. Even before their relationship evolved, he'd known that she would love Steve Rogers until her dying day, and he'd made peace with the idea of living with the man's ghost for the rest of his life…until the man, not ghost, returned. He'd done everything he could, aside from quitting, to get away from Peggy and any reminder of her. She never held anything against him and remained staunch in her insistence that he could go to her for anything. "Uh, thank you?" He replied, turning back to the conversation.

"I know I'm doing a crappy job explaining it, but…yeah," she confirmed. "Every time I woke up, you were there." It had almost been comforting, especially when she was feeling wound up. "And every time I asked you for help, you stepped up to the plate. Sometimes you even offered help before I could ask and other times…if I snuck out of the chamber without waking you, you would eventually track me down just to check on me and chide me for being out of the chamber."

He found himself nodding along to the story. Sounds like something he would have done.

"It was such a frustrating situation because no matter how many times we tried we just…couldn't make any hedge way in the situation. Finally, I'd grown so frustrated with everything and then you were there, and I took a moment. I took a moment to breathe, I didn't focus on the time loop or losing time. All those loops when you were there, helping in whatever capacity…you died, at least once in them. You just…seemed too good to be true, you know? And that was when I mentioned that nothing seemed to faze you, and then I asked you why you were so willing to help."

"What did I say?" He pressed quietly.

Turning her head to look at him, she offered him a small smile. "You lumped me in with your favorite people, and then spoke about people like me hitting walls and needing someone to pick them back up."

"And I offered to be that someone?"

She smiled because the question was so reminiscent as to her own at the time of said conversation. "Not for everyone," she paraphrased. "But you did offer to pick me back up after _I_ run into walls."

He nodded. "You do tend to run into walls," he offered.

"I know," she agreed as she tilted her head at him. "Have you thought about what you're going to do now, that you're stuck in the 21st century?"

"Beyond staying with SHIELD? I have not," he allowed. "Have you thought about what you're going to do now that you're home?"

She shook her head in negative. "Not yet, but Mack has asked me to think on things." Daisy pursed her lips then. "Jemma and Fitz plan on retiring, and I guess Coulson wants to get a way for a bit and I don't know about the others yet." She exhaled a deep sigh. "These people have been my lifeline for so long, I don't know how to do all this without them."

"I get that," he replied, having witnessed how tight the group was. "On the other hand, you have a new beginning at your doorstep. You can look into something that you previously wouldn't have."

He had a point. "There is that," she conceded slowly. But if Mack was right, she had Kora to think on…and Daniel.

"If you don't mind, maybe I'll just tag-a-long for a while?" He asked, trying to keep things light enough so that he didn't spook her.

"I think I'd like that," she admitted after a moment of consideration.

"Good," Daniel agreed easily. "So, what do you normally do when you aren't saving the world from hostile alien takeovers?"

"There's training and tai-chi, target practice… but right now? Right now, I'm going to kiss the guy I'm crushing on," she told him, as she changed her position and crawled closer to him.

He maneuvered his own position to accommodate her close presence and when her lips touched his, he framed her face in his hands and kissed her back enthusiastically.

The End


End file.
